Yet there are only five Black general managers of teams. rosters, including most of the league’s biggest stars. The hypocrisy is clear and shows itself most clearly on matters of race.īlack players make up close to 70 percent of N.F.L. kept up the practice of painting feel-good phrases like “End Racism” in end zones and of allowing players to wear approved slogans like “Black Lives Matter” on the back of helmets. people and particularly African Americans. In the wake of the protests and civic unrest of 2020, the league continues to make a big deal of its supposed commitment to supporting women, L.G.B.T.Q. Goodell came forward, after being called out by players, to say what he had previously avoided: “Black Lives Matter.” He apologized for not doing so before and vowed that the N.F.L. Using vulgar language, Gruden stated that Reid should be cut.Īfter the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked weeks of turbulent national protest, the league was finally shamed into changing its tune on issues of race. He did so along with 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick during the 2016 season. San Francisco 49ers defensive back Eric Reid was one of the first players to kneel during the anthem. owners, executives and head coaches about the movement spurred by outspoken African American players to protest police abuse and racial injustice by kneeling during the national anthem. They also shed light on groupthink that developed among N.F.L.
The emails are full of such horrific ugliness. A few months later, he and Allen mocked Caitlyn Jenner, who received an award from ESPN after coming out as transgender.
“Goodell shouldn’t call fisher and tell him to draft queers,” he wrote in 2015, referring to Jeff Fisher, then the Rams coach, who made Michael Sam the league’s first openly gay draft pick. To Gruden and his group of bros, society’s marginalized are nothing more than punch lines. Gruden wrote a chain of emails littered with virulent homophobia that underscored the dissonance between the inclusive welcome mat the league put out and the beliefs of the guy actually charged with leading Nassib’s career. and Gruden openly cheered the news that Carl Nassib, a Raiders defensive lineman, had become the league’s first active player to come out as gay. Maybe we should have a name change for the N.F.L.: the Neanderthal Football League. He apparently thinks this is a fantastic way to score points, and he repeatedly uses these terms when referring to N.F.L. In back-and-forths among Gruden and Allen and some of their friends, Gruden seems more than elated to throw around slang terms for a woman’s genitalia as pejorative. In the N.F.L., coaches like Gruden dish out platitudes about African American players in front of cameras and mics, but what do they really say behind closed doors?Įspecially women. Sitting at the core of Smith’s statement is this: Black suspicion and concern about prejudiced, two-faced treatment by whites is entirely justified. “Racism like this comes from the fact that I’m at the same table as they are, and they don’t think someone who looks like me belongs.” “You know people are sometimes saying things behind your back that are racist just like you see people talk and write about you using thinly coded and racist language,” Smith said.
He hit grace notes that spoke the truth to power and highlighted a pervasive struggle experienced by African Americans, particularly in corporate settings. He claimed he did not “have a racist bone” in his body. He said he was sorry for being offensive, that he was merely trying to say that Smith was a liar.
He issued a series of half-baked apologies. Gruden would later deny his remark had racist intent, a dodge by a so-called leader if ever there was one.